Hello everyone, my name is Ruoyi Bian. I am a PhD candidate in East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
I'm seeking collaborators for a proposed panel at AAS 2026 on cinema, gender, and cultural politics in East Asia. The panel will explore how film aesthetics negotiate sexuality, morality, and social transformation, especially under state regulation or shifting public norms.
My paper, drawn from my dissertation, examines 1970s Hong Kong erotic films, focusing on Li Han-Hsiang's adaptations of The Golden Lotus and how they visualize desire through traditional Chinese imagery under colonial censorship.
I welcome proposals related to: Representations of sex, gender, or intimacy in East Asian film and media; Intersections of eroticism with censorship, morality, nationalism, or consumer culture; Historical shifts in the visual grammar of desire; Affective, aesthetic, or ideological dimensions of erotic media; Media practices and audience reception beyond conventional pornography/erotica.
I'm open to forming a new panel or joining an existing one with shared interests. If interested, please send a brief abstract and bio to rbian2@illinois.edu. Thank you!
Looking forward to building a strong conversation!
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Ruoyi Bian
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
cocobry199408@gmail.com------------------------------